Educative-consultative program about violence in family on a gender basis

Educative- consultative program about violence in family on a gender basis was held on 28th and 29th September in hotel Mediteran, Becici, within the project “Access to Justice for Victims of Violence” and organized by UNDP Montenegro and NGO Women’s rights center. The aim of the program was education of judiciary representatives about violence in family and violence against women. The participants of the seminar were the representatives of judiciary- Basic Public Prosecution Podgorica, Court for minor offences, Regional Misdemeanor Body and representatives of the Ombudsman, the Parliament and the Ministry for Human and Minority Rights – Gender Equality Section.

During the seminar the participants listened to the lecture about violence in family, forms and dynamics of violence and characteristics of victims and abusers. Also, they talked about international legally binding standards of protection from violence in family and violence against women, primarily about the Istanbul convention that had been ratified by Montenegro, as well as about legislative framework in Montenegro, with review of the measures for harmonization of legislative framework and international standards.

The seminar was an excellent opportunity for discussion and interaction of all participants. They assessed the seminar as very successful and useful. They recognized the need for interinstitutional and intersectional cooperation in order to improve the response of judicial authorities to the problem of gender-based violence. Participants’ recommendations mostly referred to the necessity for education of judiciary representatives in this field. They indicated: “organization of more intensive and more frequent educative programs for a greater number of judiciary representatives is needed”. “An initial seminar and afterwards some advanced seminars where the participants would work on cases and problems from the practice should be organized“, was one of the recommendations at the end of the seminar. Also, the participants suggested that these educative programs should be done with all the structures which participate in the procedure (the Police, Center for Social Work, etc.).